Building the ultimate toyhauler!

Ok.... If money was no object I would be on my way to pick this up tomorrow

But that ain't happening.

I could as a reach get one of these but there are issues with it as well,

The funmover is pretty cool but my issues are that there is really no great sleeping area, it's another oil change and an up keep issue as well as gas is going up again so it's not so cheap to operate.

I love these, LivinLite VRV, all aluminum construction so super lite and seem well built. I like the racing inspired interior, no beige couches and plaid curtains. I am not sold on the tip out tent/bed yet but it is open for discussion....

I have had 2 other Work&Play trailers, one a fifth wheel and one 24' toy hauler. These are nice and I like there utilitarian design but the 18' weighs almost 5000 lbs empty and I am looking to tow with a 1/2 ton P/U, although it can do it the mpg drops down to the Funmover range.

I like this trailer but it's friggen Beige everywhere and I hate Beige what do these designers think when they do these colors. These are trailers for men geeezzz...
I do love the bunkbeds up front because I think they will function great.

At about $12,000 it isn't outrageous, I haven't seen one in person and there aren't any close to me to look at

My needs,
Sleeps 2 (My 16 year old son and I) in comfortable beds that don't take a half hr to set up or are already set up.
A shower with hot water, can be an outdoor shower.
Holds at least 3 mx bikes but would prefer 5.
Lite weight, 6x12 0r 7x14?
Plenty of storage for mx gear and tools/spares.
rv style door.
at least one window.
room for a cooler.

I'll continue to work on the want list but really it needs to be pretty basic.

My labor will be at the same rate my wife pays me which is "0" so should be able to do it for under $8,000???
Cabinets could be built by me for half that and I have some ideas about the beds/couch to save $$

I had about the same needs and looked at doing the self build. I ended up with a Work & Play 18LT for only 50% more dollars than your budget.

It was a easy deal, got ready to do Moab in a couple of weeks after buying. Used it for a number of trips, and it worked great. Much better build quality than most of the rv style toyhaulers. Those are just stick walls on frame, with usually rubber roofs. The Work & Play are solid walls, and bolted on all 4 joints, and seem to last for years. They are heavier, and the longer ones are the same price as the 16' and 18' when I was shopping used. If I had been looking for a bigger W&P I could have traded up, as those were wanting to trade down, due to having too small of tow vehicles.

I agree the Work&Play are great trailers but they are so heavy (which is why they last so long) and am worried it will kill my gas mileage, I'm thinking under 2000 lbs for my build trailer and those are closer to 4000lbs.
If I had a diesel I wouldn't think twice on the W&P but the 1/2 ton gas truck will suffer I believe...

If my build trailer starts at 1300 lbs and I add 700 to it (which I don't think I will) then add 5 bikes at 200lbs and say another 500lbs of gear etc than loaded it would be 3500 lbs. I'm guessing 3000 loaded but still that is a big difference.